The group of inventions applied for is intended for the production of an aqueous fraction of plants that represents an essentially natural concentrated cell sap extractable from the freshly collected plant by means of carbon dioxide. The concept “cell sap” is used in prior art.
It is known that cell sap is a liquid secreted by the cytoplasm of the living plant and filling its vacuoles. The cell sap, which consists of water with mineral and organic substances dissolved in it, is contained in the vacuoles. The cell sap is specific for the family and even the species of plants and depends on growing conditions, the age of the plant and of its individual cells. The accumulation of cell sap within the protoplasm is a purely physical process that can be reproduced artificially.
The production of aqueous fractions (extracts) of fir, sea-buckthorn, viburnum, etc. is known in prior art.
The methods of producing them are based, for example. on steam distillation of biologically active substances, extraction of plant raw materials by an organic solvent and dilution of the extract obtained by water, or by a water-ethanol mixture, and on carrying out extraction of plant raw materials under pressure in two stages.
Thus, in the known method of producing agents increasing the resistance of the body, the aqueous extract of fir is produced by treating the raw material by live steam for 1.5-2 hours, the vapor-gas mixture is carried off. and the aqueous extract separated from the oil.
A drawback of this method is the use of a high process temperature, which results in the destruction of vitamins and other biologically active compounds, as well as to the low stability of the extract produced.
The use of liquefied carbon dioxide as the extractant is known in prior art. Thus the extraction of plant raw materials by liquefied gases is accomplished under pressure in two stages, wherein the flow-through extraction is accomplished under pressure exceeding the filling pressure, and depressurization to the filling pressure is carried out between the stages. The conditions for implementing the method ensure effective drenching of the raw materials; this promotes an increase in the degree of extraction of the required components from the deep layers of the raw materials over a shorter time interval.
However, carotenoids, chlorophyll compounds, and other necessary components, for example, of the lipid fraction, are produced in this method as the desired biologically active components. At the same time, cell sap concentrate is not available as the desired product.
A method for producing extracts from plant raw materials using liquefied carbon dioxide is known. However, in this method the aqueous fraction of the plant raw materials is not segregated as a separate product and is not used to produce an aqueous fraction—cell sap concentrate.
The closest in technical essence and result to be achieved is a method for processing the.bark of coniferous trees, which includes milling, soaking, and extraction by liquefied carbon dioxide under increased pressure and at room temperature, with division into lipid and aqueous fractions, where the aqueous fraction is extracted by chloroform.
However, in this method the liquefied carbon dioxide is used not to produce cell sap in native form, but serves for the extraction of the water that is used at the beginning of the process for soaking the bark and for dissolving the maltol to be extracted from the bark of coniferous trees.
The analysis conducted has shown that the use of liquefied carbon dioxide to produce plant cell sap concentrate is not known in prior art.